HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 328, 8 January 1937, Page 2

HERE AND THERE IN NEW ZEALAND

GLEANINGS OF DOMINION NEWS.

Industrial Efficiency. Concrete evidence is desired by the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, to support any complaints that local industries are suffering in competition with overseas commodities because of legislation. Replying to a contention offered by Mr T. Hyde, secretary of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, that local industries were affected, Mr Sullivan said that concrete evidence, not general statements, was needed if such complaints were to be supported. Officers of bis Department and the Customs Department were constantly at work seeking such information, and as far as he could see -Mr Hyde was indulging in the same generalities as those to which exception had been taken previously. To the best of his knowledge Mr Hyde, in spite of his oracular statement, had only two minor instances that could be quoted, and when they were produced the position would be examined. Car Thief Caught. While listening to station IYA, a Hamilton petrol supplier hear da report about a car missing from Auckland and took a note of the number. A few hours later a car arrived from the south and the driver, a boy cf 16 asked for a refill of petrol, remarking that he wanted to go to New. Plymouth. The petrol seller thought it strange that a motorist wanting to go to New Plymouth should be heading in the opposite direction and the circumstances caused him to look at the car’s number. He found it to be identical with that of the missing Auckland car. Asking the motorist to wait, he telephoned to the police. He then spent some time adjusting the spare tyre, and also took the precaution of having another car parked in front of the vehicle. In the meantime' a constable arrived and took the driver into custody. The boy was on remand for a similar offence committed in Auckland earlier in the month. Goats On Mountain. .Following upon the reports of damage by goats to the embryo kauri forest beyond Te Aroha Mountain, advice has been received from the Conservator of State Forests that arrangements have been made for a small party of hunters to destroy the goats. Operations will commence early in the new year, and the hunters will be paid a daily wage, conditional upon each man destroying 36 goats a day. Although the conservator makes it clear that his Department is not authorised to pay i a bounty for each head, the remuneration to the hunters will equal a bounty of 6d a head, In addition to which the men will be allowed to retain and sell all skins. The total i Government grant for this work, however, is at present limited io £25. As this sum will merely cover the destruction of 1000 goats, and considerably greater numbers are reported to be at large in the area,. a certain amount of disappointment i is felt that for so important a work such a small sum should have been allocated.

Faded Vision. An oblong piece of metal, five inches long, two inches broad, and three-quarters of an inch thick, an ingot of steel in the possession of an Auckland resident, has a history It was smelted from Taranaki ironsaud, and is one of the first samples from the foundry of the long defunct Onehunga Iron and Steel Company. It was made, in the late eighties, at the company's foundry, near Onehunga railway station, and its production raised bright visions of an important secondary industry. But the vision faded, for there were technical difficulties in the smelting process and the company suffered other misfortunes. Unexpected Haul.

A trap was set recently at the Rapanui dairy factory, Wellington, to catch a rat. When the manager went to investigate the result, lie found that the trap had not only done its duty in catching the rat, but had close don a stoat as well. Several suggestions have been made as to how the trap made such a haul, the most likely being that the stoat, lying in wait for the rat, pounced on it before the trap was sprung, and then began to devour the kill unaware of the mechanical danger close by. Possibly the body of the rat was then being carried to a suitable hiding place when the st,oat made a false step.

Premature Inquest. Following the discovery by Maoris, a police party from Huntly bas recovered the body of a woman from the Waikato River near Rangiriri. The body had been in the water for many months and it is believed to be that of Miss Hilda Agnes Greenhild, who has been missing from Cambridge for about a year. Some months after her disappearance authority was given by the SolicitorGeneral to hold an inquest without the body, a verdict of death by drowning being returned. If the body is identified as being that of Miss Greenhild a peculiar position will arise, as the inquest has already been conducted and a verdict returned. Launch Wrecked. Washed from her moorings at the old wharf at about midnight on New Year’s Eve, the Whakatane Harbour Board’s launch Nick was carried by a strong current against a rock in mid-stream. The crew made an effort to get her clear of the rock. The attempt proved partially successful, and the anchor was towered. However, the launch commenced to make water, evidently through a hole made in the hull through contact with the rock. Finally the boat settled down at the bow and sank. Another attempt at salvage of the I Nick was made on Friday afternoon I by the trawler Outlaw, but without I result. The river bein ff at that time • in high flood the crew was unable to attach ropes to the sunken vessel, the only part of which above the water was -the top of the mast.. Cockatoo Chase. A treasured possession of the crew of a Japanese vessel which was in Dunedin over the week-end was a large white cockatoo, and there was some excitement when the bird escaped and began a tour of the city. Two anxious Japanese chased it and finally found it on the Magistrate’s Court buildings. The cockatoo was on the top of the tower, and frem there it watched the efforts to recapture it with interest. One of the pura back door and hastily climbed the suers entered the building through tower. The cockatoo regarded him with a suspicious and unfriendly eye, but the pursuer won him over with fair words, and in a few moments the cockatoo’s wings were pinioned with a string. A small crowd had gathered to watch the capture, and they were two smiling Japanese who posed before them with their cockatoo for a photograph.